Sculpted Memory Opening Reception Wednesday February 2nd 6-8 pm On View February 2nd – March 26th 2011

This group exhibition at Rush Arts Gallery, 526 W. 26th St #311 New York, NY links time, surface and material through sculptural installation, mixed media, painting, photography, and print making. Jen Blazina, Trevor Brown, Sheila Goloborotko, Johnny Mattei, and Micheal Mut, will be the participating artists in this exhibition that stretches the boundaries of mediums. Sculpted memory ties past histories with present experience.

Jen Blazina, from Philadelphia has created Bitter Sweet. This installation consists of hundreds of cast rubber lockets, silk screened with individual portraits, and hanging on silk cord. Blazina links her family history with her process of casting and printing. The installation is timeless and contemporary. The cast rubber pieces are iridescent, jewel like, and reminiscent of amber. Blazina captures moments in time and through obsession and dedication creates the bittersweet installation.

Trevor Brown from Brooklyn captures intimate moments of industrial decay through photography. The rust stained girders and remnants are vividly captured and mounted on Plexiglas. The clean surface that is used for printing mirrors what the industrial constructions once were. The dichotomy of subject versus material; mirror our present pop culture with poetic silence. Trevor Brown has exhibited his work in Brooklyn at Classon Walls, the Rising Art Gallery, 440 Gallery, Myrtle Windows Gallery, Brooklyn Artist Gym, Monya Rowe Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum. His work has also been featured in publications including Studio Visit, The New York Times, My Little India, Brooklyn Rises and Inciativa Colectiva. He was featured in a New York Moment by WNYC Radio. January 2011, Trevor will have five pieces at MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art) for the Re-Imagining Haiti: Le Projek Noveau Exhibition Trevor will be making his international art debut in Bologna Italy in the Bologna Arte Fiera in March of 2011.

Sheila Goloborotko creates sculpture, installation, paintings, print making. She manages her own print making studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Goloborotko began showing her artwork in 1980 at the Salao National de Artes Plasticas, Funart, in Rio de Janeiro. Since then her work has become a part of the permanent collections at The San Franscisco Modern Art Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Mashida Museum in Tokyo, Museo del Grabado in Buenos Aires, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Her portfolio of prints Olbos Que Viram Peixes, is part of the permanent collection of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the New York Public Library. On view in Sculpted Memory at Rush Arts Gallery is a collection of chains. Having been inspired by biology, memory, and connection, Goloborotko has recently developed a collection of chains presented in a variety of medium. A reduction fired ceramic chain sits confidently on a pedestal in front of brass silhouettes of chain links intertwined with steel wool forms pinned to the wall. Negative and Positive space and played with as figure ground creates it’s own rhythm flipping back and forth. She has transformed the same visual language of shape into several mediums, showing the universal effect.

Johnny Mattei born in the Bronx is s a graduate of Pratt Institute. His 13”x19” box constructions Mental Journals show the influence of Joseph Cornell but are updated and personalized to relate to Mattei’s pathway. The sculptural Mental Journals contain “raw emotions and recollections [forming] a beautiful mess inside.” Filled with animal symbols, cracks and symbolism each box is a mental puzzle to piece together a memory.

Michael Mut is a mixed media installation artist. His recent venture has been opening a project space gallery on the lower east side The Michael Mut Gallery. Still Counting consists of mummified toothbrushes on an expansive scale creating piles of bone like voodoo dolls out of everyday items. Mut invited members of the community to come participate in his art making process at The Michael Mut Gallery. Compelled by obsession, Mut has created over 9,000 mummified toothbrushes. His work is a statement of time, life/death, decay, garbage, and found materials. He has taken an everyday object that is usually discarded after its lifespan and created an archaeological time capsule for contemplation. He has sculpted memory dolls, and turned the ordinary into nostalgic keepsakes. Mut is currently leading the “Love Yourself Project” to participate in the L.E.S. Arts Festival hosted by The New Museum in May 2011. Sculpted Memory is curated by Charlotte Mouquin. This exhibition is her Chelsea curating debut and her inaugural exhibition with Rush Arts Gallery. She is currently the Manager for Rush Galleries.